Investigating ethnic and gender identities as expressed on wooden funerary stelae from the Libyan Pe...

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" Investigating ethnic and gender identities as expressed on wooden funerary stelae from the Libyan Period (c. 1069–715 B.C.E.) in Egypt "
Heidi Saleh C. Redmount

Document Type	:	Latin Dissertation
Language of Document	:	English
Record Number	:	54351
Doc. No	:	TL24305
Call number	:	‭3254059‬
Main Entry	:	Heidi Saleh
Title & Author	:	Investigating ethnic and gender identities as expressed on wooden funerary stelae from the Libyan Period (c. 1069–715 B.C.E.) in Egypt\ Heidi Saleh
College	:	University of California, Berkeley
Date	:	2006
Degree	:	Ph.D.
student score	:	2006
Page No	:	626
Abstract	:	This dissertation investigates the expression of ethnic and gender identities on 117 Libyan Period funerary stelae, which originated primarily from Thebes. Representational, archaeological, and inscriptional evidence suggest that the owners of the funerary stelae were tied closely to the Cult of Amun at Karnak. This Theban population of 58 men and 59 women appears ethnically homogenous; there are no definite indications that any of them was non-Egyptian. The realization that the funerary stelae were owned almost equally by men and women dismisses earlier theories that they belonged primarily to women. The scholarly consensus had been that women enjoyed an elevation in status during the Libyan Period that allowed them to appear without a male relative on their funerary stela. This dissertation demonstrates that the funerary focus shifted to the individual (regardless of gender), since it was important for each person to own his/her stela that would distinguish them in cache burials typical of the era. Furthermore, these changes in burial practices seem to have been motivated indigenously rather than influenced by Libyan burial practices of which nothing is known. The depiction of voluptuous females that occurs in the Libyan Period was also linked conventionally with the presence of Libyans, who were believed to have had different aesthetic tastes. Because no representational evidence exists from Libya that would suggest that its people preferred voluptuous women, this dissertation suggests that the change in female body aesthetic was also motivated by indigenous, Egyptian developments. It is possible that the change in the female body type was related to the increase in popularity of mammisiac cults that venerate the role of the Mother Goddess. For comparative purposes, this work examines Memphite votive stelae and donation stelae mostly from the Delta. Women were rarely featured on them; however, royal individuals of Libyan heritage appear on approximately 10% of the votive and 33% of the donation stelae. These findings confirm that Libyan leaders were concentrated in northern Egypt; and the status of women did not change significantly from earlier periods, since they are still largely absent from these two classes of stelae. Social status rather than gender or ethnicity appears to be the most salient aspect of identity as represented by the three classes of stelae considered in this dissertation.
Subject	:	Communication and the arts; Social sciences; Egypt; Ethnicity; Funerary stelae; Gender identities; Libyan Period; Archaeology; Art history; Ancient civilizations; 0579:Ancient civilizations; 0324:Archaeology; 0377:Art history
Added Entry	:	C. Redmount
Added Entry	:	University of California, Berkeley